Repairing pin holes in diff cover

[EightyFive]

Hi,

Is there anyway to repair small holes in the diff cover without welding? there's two holes, one is a pinhole and the other is slightly larger but still very small. (I have no experience with a welder and the one I had access to stopped working) Would fibreglass be good enough to patch the holes? I'm worried that the cover plate will get hot/ the oil inside will wear away the resin quickly. Really don't want to shell out £50 for a new cover plate.

What do you guys suggest?

[Caprigear]

Fibreglass will not do the job. Better to shell out £50 on a new cover than to risk the axle running dry then it will cost you several hundreds to put right.
Considering that the original is probably over 30 odd years old, not wanting to shell out on a new replacement is penny pinching taken to the extreme.

[Bertie]

Hi,
I'm worried that the cover plate will get hot/ the oil inside will wear away the resin quickly. Really don't want to shell out £50 for a new cover plate.

If your a bit strapped at the mo I've got the old cover off my 2.8 special lsd diff knocking about. IF it would fit I'll gladly clean it up and post it to you buddy if that helps you out....

Des

[EightyFive]

Hi,
I'm worried that the cover plate will get hot/ the oil inside will wear away the resin quickly. Really don't want to shell out £50 for a new cover plate.

If your a bit strapped at the mo I've got the old cover off my 2.8 special lsd diff knocking about. IF it would fit I'll gladly clean it up and post it to you buddy if that helps you out....

Des

Wow thanks, although I'm not sure if it will fit, is it the atlas type?

[Bertie]

Wow thanks, although I'm not sure if it will fit, is it the atlas type?

Yes it's the atlas axel, send me your details and I'll sort it out this week for you....

Des

[EightyFive]

Wow thanks, although I'm not sure if it will fit, is it the atlas type?

Yes it's the atlas axel, send me your details and I'll sort it out this week for you....

Des

PMed

[pbar]

Nice one Des It's nice to see that is. Many don't realise that £50 is a lot of money, to a lot of people.

[jimmyted]

Chemical metal, JB weld and the like will sort it if the rest of the cover's not in bad shape. It happened on mine over a year ago, but I have the English axle where you can't replace the cover. Not had any probs since smearing on some JB weld.

[Swishy]

Chemical metal, JB weld and the like will sort it if the rest of the cover's not in bad shape.

Seconded.

But if you have the type where you can replace the cover - do so - it's money well spent.

[stevemarl]

It`s very thin metal so most likely if it`s got a couple of holes the whole thing`s about to crumble. And as pointed out, you don`t want it to drop it`s oil one day and wreck the axle.

[EightyFive]

Just an update: While I was grateful to Bertie for offering me his plate, I decided to go with a repro one from CCI.

Here is what the axle is looking like atm:

[Bertie]

Well done, glad you got sorted in the end....